There are four characteristics of which the solution to a complex engineering problem must comply with at least one of the following.

i)  are not obvious, require originality or analysis based on fundamentals;

i)  are outside the scope of standards and codes;

ii)  require information from variety of sources that is complex, abstract or incomplete;

iii)  involve wide-ranging or conflicting issues: technical, engineering and interested or affected parties.

These points tend to cause confusion, at least for students. This is largely down to a lack of critical evaluation of what is read. Allow us to break it down for you.

Hosted and broken down again by M. Boer and S. Schekman on 16 Feb 2021

Keys: Problem definition, complex problems, solutions to complex problems, critical evaluation, and's and or's